Japanese red seabream (madai)

Daurade japonaise (madai)

What it is

Inside each pectoral girdle sits a small bone shaped like a fish, the tai no tai — the sea bream within the sea bream — kept as a charm since the Edo period. The whole fish presides over weddings on the strength of a pun: tai sits inside medetai, auspicious.

In the kitchen

For kobujime, wipe two sheets of kombu with sake, press the salted fillets between them and chill four hours; longer and the kelp cures the flesh rubbery. The head and frame, blanched then simmered in nothing but salted water, give ushiojiru.

Goes with

Kombu Junmai sake Salt Wasabi Sudachi Usukuchi shoyu Kinome (sanshō leaf) Gari (pickled ginger)

Same species

Red porgy

In season alongside

Acacia honey Pauillac lamb Tiger pufferfish (torafugu) Haddock Hake Halibut

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